The Business Lesson of INEOS Automotive

Let’s kick off straight away and play it clear here: we all should be able to learn from the success of others and - if smart enough - take advantage of the business inputs and insights that come from studying and analyzing others’ grandiose projects. As a dreaming prospective customer, outdoor enthusiast, and, let me confess, British lover, I closely scrutinized the entrepreneurial adventure and launch of INEOS Automotive over the past couple of years. The multidimensional idea that was set up and implemented by INEOS Group and its Chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe offers insightful material for all ambitious entrepreneurs, businessmen, startuppers, and investors out there looking for proper guidance and motivation. Therefore, this time, the self-declared purpose of the article is to enlist and discuss how, frequently, (i) the best outcomes result from a tidy pattern of basic decisions and feelings and (ii) this British enterprise, with a European heart, might represent one of the best examples on the market.

            The open-source digital world in which we live will allow the reader to find any sort of information on INEOS Automotive, but in any case, a few lines of introductory background and history, are more than needed before moving forward with the analysis. INEOS Group, one of the largest chemical companies in the world and a multinational conglomerate headquartered in London launched the automotive project in 2017, following – as said – the passion, enthusiasm, and initiative of his Chairman. The main aim was to fill a market gap by producing the Grenadier, a well-built off-road 4x4 vehicle that could satisfy the needs of enthusiasts, and keep alive the British character, and tradition in this specific sector. Production started in October 2022, in the former Mercedes-Benz site located in Hambach, France.

The tidy pattern of decisions and feelings mentioned above could be now summarized in three strengths and concepts that the INEOS Automotive team was admirably able to condensate in one (major and successful) product:

1.     Practicality and Efficiency

Less is more: the Grenadier is a vehicle, a business creation immediately understandable by its customers worldwide. You cannot see significant inconsistencies in the outcome, in what the manufacturer was willing to deliver on the market. The message is pretty much clear: a solid off-road machine that does not fear adversities and can carry almost everything and everybody, essentially everywhere on planet Earth.

Every entrepreneurial journey, any kind of service or good provided or sold nowadays, targets to be as practical and efficient as possible. Among the main goals of businessmen and corporations, there has always been the ability to (i) be immediately understood by potential purchasers and partners, and (ii) accurately transmit to them the real perception of the quality of the product, in the most accurate way possible.

In this sense, INEOS Automotive got it right by betting on a clear and easily accessible business proposition, able to reach the masses without big doubts about what they are looking at. Therefore, reducing complexities to the degree of being just practical and efficient for what the market, clients, and customers demand is, in my opinion, the foundation of long-term business success (regardless of the industry).

2.     Tradition and History

They did not forget where neither we (as customers) nor they (as manufacturers) come from. By building, as said, a strong and comprehensible product, off-road history and traditions were considered greatly and in large amounts. Once again, design, assembly, marketing strategy, sponsorships, and – we cannot omit it – driving experience, all express a slight and not-so-hidden nostalgia for old-fashioned all-wheel drives and an authentic passion for outdoor, nature, and extreme experiences. In this context, a genuine touch of heritage and personal attachment is given by the name Grenadier itself, dedicated to Sir Ratcliffe’s favorite pub in Belgravia, London. Such kind of small and sincere details are often able to considerably reinforce (and start) a legacy and solidly engage your community openly.

Therefore, here again, we can see how these traits smoothly add strengths to the business idea. While admiring the Grenadier from the outside, you feel comfortable, you do not perceive any exaggerated attempt of being insanely futuristic; you just find yourself where you were with your dad or grandpa a few decades ago; the time has just stopped. Customers are, in my view, attracted by the power of not being forced to accept unnecessary innovations, changes, tech obsessions, and over-complications if not strictly necessary and easily justifiable. As clients, we appreciate good memories; we still have feelings.

INEOS Automotive can be a pure example of why we should always consider how to carefully integrate technology and modernization in the services or products we offer. Progress is a powerful tool only if laying on the ground of solid and valuable traditions.

3.     Communitization and Values

Usually isolation – even if sometimes needed – is not considered a positive aspect of our lives. On the other hand, the ability to attract – under the same mission, goal, brand, and idea – consistent groups of people (spread around different locations) and lead them to similar experiences worldwide is a unique, rare, and irreplaceable corporate asset. INEOS Automotive is also doing this properly and systematically by creating communities of enthusiasts (including sponsored athletes, influential groups of people, associations, and enterprises) that share the same common values, needs, and passions.

This point cannot be underestimated in business and entrepreneurship. It is not just a matter of brand power and marketing – that, in this case, is also part of the success – but, conversely, relates more to the concept of engaging customers and clients in the same emotions and adventures, despite the location where they are experiencing the product or the service provided; it means create an identity able to trespass national borders and cultural barriers.

Therefore, whoever is willing to do great in business should take into consideration these crucial factors by developing, without hesitation, a set of coherent principles duly interconnected with the product and brand, a sort of proprietary entrepreneurial soul that moves simultaneously with the core activity and production and is effortlessly communicated to the consumers.

There are stories of success that, more than others, catch our curiosity and admiration, both as entrepreneurs and human beings and, for sure, INEOS Automotive is - for the author of this article - one of those. As described above, their journey is uniquely characterized by incredible business pragmatism and efficiency, an approach that should (i) inspire any commercial initiative nowadays, and (ii) teach us how simplicity, honesty, and traditions are the real assets to invest in when launching or developing a global enterprise. In all fields and sectors, the word innovation – despite the recent obsessed rush to AI and over-technologization – should be read as the ability of entrepreneurs and investors to merge and implement the majority of knowledge, expertise, and experience currently available and accessible into one single product or service; in doing so, a bit of healthy glorification of the past and a proper dose of human touch should always be present, should be the secret and widely shared ingredients.